


Luck

by arminblossom (syrren)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-20
Updated: 2014-02-20
Packaged: 2018-01-13 04:31:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1212763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syrren/pseuds/arminblossom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an awkward beginning to his first year in university, Jean meets Erd whilst having car troubles and, due to similarities, become fast friends (and perhaps a bit more)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Luck

**Author's Note:**

> Please bear with me, I've never written for Erd before.  
> Fanfic for this nice [Tumblrite](http://notjeankirschtein.tumblr.com/).  
> I hope you enjoy this!

                You know what, nothing ever went right in Jean Kirschtein's life, not now anyway. In the past week he had tried to start university normally, make a fresh start, but every little detail seemed to work against him, and when you're this far away from home, the mistakes get to be rather stressful.

                His family had a pretty good amount of money; his father held a high position in a national bank and his mother brought in extra income by running private tutoring for aspiring pianists. It was enough to where Jean was attending a private university without placing himself in massive debt for the rest of his life. Enough to where he was renting a small studio apartment not far from campus instead of having to share a dorm room with some stranger. Everything for this new life was set up with his parents acting as the backbone of support while he deliberated on which businesses nearby he should apply for a job for or if he should just stick with setting up writing commissions. No, it was definitely not financial stress that was getting to him.

                It was the little things, and though it is so belittled on paper, it is a fact that it is the smallest things that have the greatest impact on people. And one of those things was the nagging sense of homesickness tugging on the back of Jean's mind. He was a proud man, having dreamt of leaving his parent's comfort for the wide world outside without looking back, being able to make it alone in the world (hypothetically, of course, since he wasn't alone in the financial department), and there was no way he would ever admit missing his home. Yet it was there, a background pain that left him lonely since there was only one person he knew here and he barely ever got to see the blond peer. The loneliness, fear of being on his own and feeling of being a far distance from his home created a basis for this rather awful week.

                Then it was that blond peer of his, Armin, who had already shown Jean up in social skills. Armin had always been rather shy, even up until his senior year, only having made friends with Jean and a brunet named Marco who was attending a different university. It was Jean that made friends quickly and became popular among the student body, possessing the right mixture of humour and understanding of others, along with some form of mannerly behaviour. But it was different here: there were more people to try and approach and everything he had heard in high school only made university a thousand times more intimidating. So he had stuck to the sidelines, unnaturally waiting for someone else to approach him, which only infuriated him, and considering he couldn't help showing his emotions, he was unintentionally driving others away by seeming unapproachable. Meanwhile Armin - small, shy, bookish Armin - had already somehow made best friends with some kids named Eren and Mikasa, within, like, the first day of school. Of course, Armin _offered_ Jean a place in their group, and he would've accepted, only he got some bad vibes from that Eren guy, so he stayed back and watched as he lost the blond to new friends. Aaaand, he was alone.

                Next up were the classes themselves, and this didn't surprise Jean in the slightest. The first few days of school were the easiest; everyone knew this, as introductions were made before the lessons really began. But even for memorizing the various rules or comprehending what the professor _was_ trying to teach, Jean was doing rather poorly. It happened every few years, he would have a terrible time in school because he couldn't concentrate, only now he was facing more pressure since these classes cost money, money he would have to pay his parents back if he failed. Though this didn't merit any concern - he had a whole semester to make up for his absentmindedness ahead - it could be a sign of difficulty in his grades this year, and that did stress him out considerably. He would never admit it, even to himself, but Jean had a feeling this poor performance was caused by homesickness.

                But these all were just building blocks to worse events to come, these were background factors that built up over time until they became more dramatic issues. It was the times that he could tell an actual anecdote to that he blamed this horrible time on. This all started two years ago when his father insisted that they follow the tradition of cars: for a father and son to fix up a car instead of the son automatically getting a car that, well, _worked_. It would have been all nice and fine, only his father didn't have a clue about cars. After a lot of online tutorials and tips from his friends, the banker had finally lugged home a trashy car for Jean to help him fix up. So, we have an enthusiastic man lacking any experience with machinery and an exasperated teenager that just wanted to get this all over with and this led to disaster. Not that Jean cared at the time - he wasn't even interested in driving then. But now that he depended on this car that was barely running thanks to all of those badly written tutorials, he started to care a hell of a lot more.

                In fact, he had found someone to take a look at his car and put some _real_ work into it within a few days, but the car didn't exactly have any plans to make it those last few days. On his way back home from the university one night the engine decided to die, making him quickly pull over to the side of the road and try desperately to get the rusty old thing to start again. After more than a handful of attempts he finally stepped out from behind the steering wheel and ran his hands through his hair, wracking his brain for a solution. He could call Armin to pick him up - there was no way his little Honda could tow Jean's Elantra - and leave this piece of junk along the road as he wanted to do. But that was a foolish move and his ticket to losing any transportation at all, so instead he dug in his wallet for his AAA card. Not finding it within the first five seconds of searching he grew irritated and flung his wallet back on the seat, skipping to the side to kick the front tire as hard as he could with the addition of, "What a piece of junk," under his breath.

                "Hey, kid, need help?" a voice - definitely more mature than Jean's and notably masculine - called as a vehicle not much better looking than the Elantra pulled up from behind. A tall man with blond hair tied back stepped from the driver's seat and walked up to him.

                "Yeah, damn thing broke down," Jean explained, jerking a thumb towards his car.

                "Lucky you, I'm a fair hand at this kind of stuff, mind if I look under the hood?" the man asked as he started back towards his car for a flashlight, only hesitating for a brief second to catch Jean's nod.

                Upon gaining the flashlight from his glove department, the tall blond propped up the Elantra's hood and bent over the engine for a long moment, leaving Jean to stand awkwardly by the driver's door. With a swift nod of his head he went back to fetch something else, holding up the black coil for Jean to see, "Jumper cables."

                "So the engine only needs a jumpstart then?" the shorter man questioned, tone laced with disbelief. That's all this car needed to start again? Incredible.

                "Looks like it, but you might want to get your car looked at later anyway. Just give me a second and I'll pull my car up. You're lucky that your Elantra broke down here, there's space, I've had far worse," the blond commented with a knowing grin.

                For the next few moments Jean watched as the blond carried out the quick fix easily, acting whenever he was requested to do something. And with a grin from both of them, the old car started up at last. Slamming the hood back down and wiping his hands off on his jeans the blond walked over to Jean, "That should do it."

                "Thanks, man, would've been stuck here for a while if you hadn't stopped," Jean responded, taking the blond's offered hand. "I'm Jean by the way."

                "Erd. Hey, you go to the university right? I think I've seen you before, we must pass each other in the halls or something."

                "Oh, um, maybe, sorry I don't really pay attention after class. Oh! For your help," Jean trailed off, picking his wallet back from the front seat and sliding out a few crisp bills.

                "Nah, don't worry about it. Didn't cost me anything, and I had some time on my hands anyway. Consider it you welcome-to-the-university present," Erd protested, cupping Jean's shoulder. "I better get going, poker game with a couple of my friends. I'll see you around, Jean."

                The shorter man waved as Erd took his leave before climbing behind the driver's seat once more. The few moments he had with Erd and the random fortune he had in getting his car started again ran through his mind throughout the rest of the night.

* * *

 

                "Hey, Jean! There you are! I wanted to invite you to a party this weekend. A bunch of people are going and maybe you can finally make some friends," Armin greeted, his enthusiasm falling flat when he caught Jean's exasperated expression. "And _no_ , Eren isn't going to be there. The people going aren't exactly, ah, excitable as he is, the more mature students are going."

                "Good, because honestly, I don't know how you stand that guy. He's always running around getting into trouble, never cares about others, and what is with that weird thing about him and the government? The guy can't shut up about how corrupt the system is. Who cares? We're stuck with it in any case. He doesn't deserve to hang out with you, Armin," Jean ranted.

                "I know, Jean, you don't like him," Armin deadpanned.

                "And it’s so weird how you just follow him around. He isn't that great, you know. But whatever, what you do in your own time is your business," the taller boy said, eyes closed and hands up, and fully aware of what he was really implying.

                "Jean!" Armin admonished. "God, you're more obsessed with him than I am. Look, are you coming to the party or not? Eren's not going to be there and I'm pretty sure that by the guest list its going to be a more reserved get together than anything."

                "Yeah, sure, text me the directions and stuff later, I have to get going to my next class," Jean agreed quickly, repositioning his backpack over his shoulder and hurrying on down the hall.

                Out of the corner of his eye he could have sworn he saw that Erd guy he had met the other night just down the hall.

* * *

 

                The white front door at the address Jean was given the address to was propped open. Light, calm voices and classic rock music on low volume spilled from the threshold, promising a welcoming atmosphere just inside. Jean took a few tentative steps forward, toeing the line between the outside and the party inside as he peered in.

                None of the stereotypes of typical, wild college parties shown in TV shows had prepared Jean for this. Inside to the left was the living room, a dining room and kitchen beyond that, and to the right was a staircase. The carpet was white and spotless, the pastel coloured furniture all clean and he could have sworn that every cup there was not placed on the wood surface of the coffee table but on a placemat or coaster. A few students sat around the room, holding pretty deep conversations by the looks of how many people leaned forward and hung on each other's every word. From an old time looking stereo set on a shelf classic rock emitted, filling the room with rock n' roll back from the 1960s to '80s, everything from The Beatles to Janis Joplin. Nothing in any of the media Jean had witnessed had hinted at college students that actually _behaved_ and were capable of just sitting around and holding decent conversation.

                Still a bit hesitant, Jean stepped further into the house. Most of the faces here he shallowly recognised, from the hallways or his own classes, but so far he only found one truly familiar person for perched near the stereo was Armin. Legs curled at his side, the blond leaned up against the back of his armchair as he glanced over the books that were nestled on the shelf. He head tilted to catch the titles scrawled on the book spines, he observed every novel, mentally reviewing every book present. He was obviously no stranger to the party, however, as someone called out to the blond, "Find anything interesting?"

                "Well, there are a few books I haven't heard of before that sound intriguing. But I am rather disappointed in the lack of history present," the short boy critiqued.

                "Yeah well not everyone can be obsessed with World War 2 like you are, dude," the same guy laughed, the owner of the book collection as far as Jean could tell. "But there is a good collection on physics. I personally recommend every book there to you."

                "Sorry, fellows, but my only interest is World War 2, you can keep your other subjects," Armin retorted, playfully.

                "You seem to have an obsession," a taller blond man observed.

                "As I told my grandfather: it’s a lifestyle, not an obsession," Armin declared, drawing out a laugh from his audience.

                Jean looked back at the man that had spoken just seconds before to find him to be Erd. Taken back a bit, he stared at the content blond, wondering if Armin had known Erd all this time. It didn't seem unlikely - especially with the shorter boy's newfound confidence.

                "Hey, Armin, didn't know you could talk to people," Jean greeted, copping the armchair next to the blond's.

                "Tch, you know very well I can talk when I want to. Plus, everyone here is a lot easier and better to talk to than most of the people back home. At least these guys and gals can hold an intriguing conversation," Armin asserted, meaning no harm but simply relieved that he had finally found his place.

                "So you know Erd, huh?" Jean questioned, lowering his voice.

                "Yeah, everyone knows Erd. He's one of the friendliest guys I've ever met," the blond grinned.

                "I can see that. He helped me jumpstart my car a few days ago."

                "Yep, that'd be Erd. The guy is pretty nice, you know."

                Jean nodded and stood back up, noticing the soda and plastic cups lined on the table in the next room. Making his way around the sofa and into the kitchen he absentmindedly poured himself a half-cup of Coke, unaware that he had caught Erd's eye on his way over. The blond man had seemed so busy with his conversations that Jean had assumed that he wouldn't notice him at all, which he didn't mind. If he couldn't catch Erd now, perhaps he could later and thank him again for his help on the Elantra. Only he _had_ caught Erd's attention and the blond had immediately excused himself from the discussion to go talk with Jean.

                "Hey! Jean, right?" Erd grinned, making Jean jump from his abrupt entrance.

                "Oh, uh, yeah, Jean. Glad to see you at the party, Erd. I saw you earlier but you were talking so…I just wanted to say thanks again for helping me out the other night. Wouldn't have gone well for me if you hadn't," Jean answered awkwardly.

                "No problem, dude, don't mention it." Stepping to the side, Erd pulled a chair from the kitchen table and sat down, leaning forward so as to rest his elbows on the table. "You know, the people here are great and all, but have you ever noticed that sometimes people are so stuck in one category in life that it’s all they talk about?"

                "I think so. Reminds me of when Armin and I were in high school. Whenever we had to give example sentences for word definitions he would make _all_ of the sentences about World War 2," Jean reminisced, smirking at Armin's fascination with history. "Now look at him, he's made new friends and its still all he talks about practically."

                "The host of the party is like that, only with physics. But that's Gunther for you," Erd laughed. "But yeah, some of the people back there are like that, they have that one thing going in their life, and I'm not exactly interested in steering them away. In the meantime, retaking my world history and physics and whatever else classes from those guys doesn't sound appealing to me. You seem a lot more interesting."

                "Well, I _do_ try my best to not talk about wars too often. It’s great that they get so excited over some subjects - I mean, Armin's happiest when he gets to talk about what he loves - but I guess I just don't have that clear direction in life. So I end up talking about whatever I do know," Jean agreed, taking the seat next to Erd and staring down into the dark soda.

                "I can understand that. We're the jacks of all trade, I guess. It’s all right not to have direction, just means you can go whatever path you choose and not be too tied down," Erd shrugged. "Say, what do you plan to major in anyway, kid?"

                "Creative writing or something along those lines, I guess. My mom wanted me to become a pianist like her and my dad was trying to push me into business, but nah, writing is just so much more natural to me. What about you?"

                "Philosophy. Haven't a clue about what I'm going to do with it but it was the most interesting course I could find all considering. Guess I just have a knack for ethics and what makes a good person."

                Jean looked up at the blond for a second, biting his tongue to stop himself from saying, "That's probably because you _are_ a good person." So instead he nodded and took a sip from his Coke. After a long moment of searching for something to break the silence he vented, "You know, this week hasn't been one of my greatest. It’s not even so much the car thing. There's just so much that went wrong for me in the last few weeks. First the car breaks down and when I got it checked out, whatever the hell that car needed ran me a fair amount of change. Lost most of my food budget through that, and there's no way in hell I'm going to ask my parents for more money. My father would tell me to take what I knew about fixing cars - all of the things he taught me, which all in all, equal to roughly zero - and fix it myself. Too late for that."

                "You get along with your parents?" Erd poured himself a cup of Sprite and glanced at the shorter man.

                "Well, kind of, I guess. We don't fight and they don't neglect me. I think they legitimately tried to raise me right. But it didn't seem to come to them as naturally as it could have. They could certainly be demanding at times, especially when it concerned my future career. Why?"

                 "Mm, I can get that demanding thing. I have a pretty good family back home. Couldn't ask for a better one. Didn't have much growing up but damn it if my parents try their best anyway," Erd grinned. "Well, kid, sorry this start to university hasn't been the best. Sometimes it works out - like for your friend Armin in there - and sometimes it takes a while. You'll get a hang of being on your own. I was able to."

                Startled to hear the last part Jean peered over at Erd. So they really could relate to each other in a few ways, huh. For the moment the older blond didn't seem to be paying attention as he swirled his Sprite around the plastic cup. This gave the shorter one  a chance to get a better look at Erd, considering he hadn't when they first met due to it being the evening. But in this yellow light Jean could see that he had his long hair the same colour of wheat pulled back into a tight knot. He had sharp cheekbones and a small beard that only accentuated his masculine features. Wisdom and experience, along with good humour, pervaded his dark brown eyes, and while he seemed to be so relaxed, they seemed brighter than earlier when Jean had first arrived. The blond overall was just a tad taller than him, though Erd certainly had a more solid build, complete with wider shoulders and more muscles than Jean could ever aspire to. In short, Erd was a pretty handsome guy in Jean's eyes.

                "I don't think about my first few weeks often, mostly because in hindsight my awkward time then no longer matters. My family isn't that well off in finances, so coming here took a lot of scholarships and student loans. Probably be paying those off for the rest of my life, even if I do sell my soul to Satan," Erd smirked. "But yeah, I thought I had to do everything to make my time in college memorable, go to parties and all that while juggling a job and schoolwork. Needless to say that it didn't work out so well. Gunther still won't let me live down what he called my 'obnoxious phase', but I figure I'm an all right guy now. Started hanging out with friends that understood me. Things level out with time."

                Jean nodded for a moment, not sure what to say. A few different questions ran through his mind but he caught himself before he could utter a sound, not wishing to embarrass himself in front of the blond. How funny, they actually dealt with the opposite problems in their first few weeks. And after a few seconds, "Yeah, having friends would certainly help. Ever since Armin made friends with Eren and Mikasa I've been without company for the most part. Gets a bit lonely when you're away from home and the only familiar person ditches you for some brat."

                "Ah, well, until Armin comes to his senses, you can consider me a friend, Jean," Erd grinned, taking a swig of his Sprite.

                "Really? I mean, I would think for how popular you seem...you would have better people to hang out than me," Jean stuttered, a bit in disbelief that he was actually able to make a friend at a party he had thought of ditching before even showing up.

                "Well, yeah, you seem like a cool guy. Why wouldn't I want to hang out with you?" The blond shot him a concerned look before turning his gaze away.

                "Oh, er, no reason, just took me by surprise, I guess," Jean muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

                "Hm. Hey, you wouldn't want to do something over the weekend would you?" Erd offered calmly, leaning back in the wooden chair.

                "All right, cool. You can come to my place and play video games," the shorter student offered, adding quickly, "I mean, that's what my friend back home and I would do. We can do something else if you want."

                "Nah video games, just make sure you have something good for me. Hate to show up and all you have is Animal Crossing," Erd warned, drawing a laugh from Jean. "Yeah, you laugh, but that actually happened to me. Showed up and immediately had to deal with Nook. What a party. Anyway, here's my cell number, send me your address and time whenever."

                Erd scribbled out the digits on a napkin and slid it over to Jean, who promptly stuffed it into his pocket for later reference.

                "Well, I love Gunther dearly but I can hear the faint physics facts in the background. Might as well stay here. So what else is up? Where are you from anyway?"

                For the duration of the two hours that the get together was planned to last, the two whiled away the time with conversation. The topic skipped around a bit, from basic information about each other to their theories on what made a good person.  It seems rather pointless to mention about how interesting the conversation was for those involved, considering how much laughter came from those two over the course of the night.

                And it’s even more pointless to mention how Jean and Erd both left that party in high spirits and much to think on and remember for the rest of the week.

* * *

 

                In the days leading up to the weekend Erd and Jean stopped in the hallway to greet each other hurriedly before moving onto their next classes. By the time the weekend came the two were getting on like old friends more or less.

                "All right, let me see your video games collection," the blond demanded immediately when he knocked on Jean's door that Saturday. He grinned and shook Jean's hand before stepping inside and laughed when the shorter boy pulled away afterwards to reveal his box of games proudly.

                "Well how about that, best host yet!" Erd exclaimed as he shuffled through the cases. "And if I'm not mistaken it looks like you have a pretty extensive collection of movies too."

                "Yeah well, when one is bored and with money they tend to start collections for things that will be obsolete next month." The shorter man shook his head in amusement and inserted the game Erd picked out after a few minutes into the console.

                Shouts usually accompanying video game players and vague threats to each other aside, the conversation was fairly relaxed. The most anyone could really make out was Jean commenting, "For someone who doesn't even own any console whatsoever, how the hell do you play this good?" and Erd's answer of "I get invited to a lot of parties."

                When the sun started to disappear behind the horizon and the living room grew darker, Jean finished shutting off the console and putting everything away properly while Erd stood up and stretched. "Looks like I won, shortie."

                "That's only because I let you win," Jean retorted, blushing slightly at his lie.

                Erd snorted and set about turning on the kitchen and dining room lights. Kneeling down beside Jean he tore through the box of movies and pulled out _Ferris Bueller's Day Off_. With a role of his eyes and a grin Jean started the movie. "I should've expected you would pull a free movie out of me too."

                "Hey! I saved you from a cruel fate stuck along the freeway, remember?" Erd shot back.

                "Tch, perhaps I should've declined your help."

                "Aww you don't mean that. You know your old Elantra is the whole reason we're friends and you love my being your friend so..." Erd teased.

                "I never said I love being your friend."

                "Then what do you call that surprised remark you made last week about my offering to be your friend? Admit it; you're honoured to be my friend."

                "Damn," Jean breathed, stepping up behind the blond.

                "Caught you!" Erd taunted, smiling innocently up at him.

                "So did you want dinner too? Honestly, next time I might as well take you out to the cinema and dinner at some fancy French restaurant."

                "Mm you're lucky that I'm not that high maintenance. Listen, I got dinner, Pizza Hut is on my speed dial, I got you covered," Erd assured, pulling his cell phone and ordering for the two of them.

                "You know, _Ferris Bueler_ really is one of those classics, isn't it?" Jean commented a couple of hours later as the end credits rolled along the screen. The two were sprawled out on the floor in front of the shorter one's flat screen TV, an empty pizza box tossed off to the side.

                "No, Charlie Chaplin's films, now those were classics," Erd argued, smirking.

                "Tch, very funny."

                "Yeah I thought so."

                Not long afterwards Erd took his leave, leaving Jean with the loneliness that pervaded his apartment so very often. Turning all of the lights back on to drive away the darkness trying to invade his home and flipping the TV back to Cable, he tried to assimilate the rest of a normal night so as to not notice the silence and emptiness too much. It didn't work in any case.

                A lot of times, when a person is alone all day they are fine being so, thoughts of seeking out company rarely occur to them. But whenever a day has been spent with a friend that can brighten up any room their leaving certainly takes its toll, the life of the place being drained once more. And to Jean's unfortunity, he was stuck with this loneliness that he hadn't had to deal with since he was back with his parents after Marco and Armin would go home.

                So he did the only thing he could think to do after a while: go to bed. If he fell asleep, he wouldn't have to deal with the sudden loss, right? Well, in the end he traded it off for a restless sleep and woke up early the next day, a Sunday so he was stuck at home with nothing to do.

* * *

 

                Nursing the warm cup of tea his hands were wrapped around, Jean thought back on the day before and attempted to remember the dream he had had the night before. He couldn't figure it out very well, and he had lost most of the details in the dream, but he was certain that it had something to do with Erd. Probably just the aftermath of spending a day with the guy.

                And he went on with his day as normal. He finished up what little was left of his homework, cleaned up his apartment a bit, then spent the rest of the day on his laptop. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was that his mind kept wondering back over to Erd, replaying the time he had spent with him. He was a pretty great friend, even for being so sarcastic, and the two got along amazingly well. Their experiences complemented each other and their discussions on whatever topic came up could last for hours.

                That, and Jean did have to admit that Erd was fairly good looking. He wouldn't admit that out loud, of course, but somewhere deep down while he wasn't paying attention.

                There's supposed to be some process that people go through with emotions; first denial, then anger, and finally acceptance? That sounds right. Well Jean was going through it. Because for the first month or so after he had met Erd he had definitely _not_ been thinking about the blond often. Anyone could tell that he was handsome but that didn't reflect anything on Jean, not by his reasoning, so he did accept that. But his having a dream of the blond and his mind wandering back to him no matter how many distractions he presented? That was only because the two hung out a lot, more than Jean had hung out with anyone of recent. It was just his relief in no longer being alone.

                In contrast the anger stage was a lot shorter, lasting only a couple of days before he finally accepted that he had rather strong feelings for the blond. But come on, it’s impossible to harbour any negative feelings towards Erd, in any way possible. So the stage dropped off quickly and with resignation and lingering frustration with himself, he finally landed himself in the final stage roughly a month and a half after his Elantra had failed him that fateful night.

* * *

 

                "Hey, Jean, haven't seen you lately," Armin called one day after class. Jean turned to wait as the shorter boy caught up.

                "Oh, yeah, I've been hanging out with Erd," Jean shrugged.

                "So that would explain Erd being absent recently too," the blond muttered, more to himself. "Anyway, what are you doing today?"

                "Erd's coming over in the evening. _Thor_ 2 is coming out on DVD in a couple of days so we're watching the first one tonight."

                "I see. Well, I'm sure you and Erd will have a good time," Armin said abruptly after a few seconds. "I gotta run, promised I would get something back to Gunther. Catch up with you later!"

                Frowning at the blond's sudden disappearance, Jean padded back to his Elantra and waited for Erd to come over, setting out the _Thor_ movie before pacing his flat. His shorter friend's odd behaviour had faded from his memory in wake of his nervousness over Erd coming over. He had always been fine around the blond before, but especially after accepting his feelings towards him, it had become increasingly difficult to be around Erd without slipping up. There was no way he would mess up the relationship, but he was also all too aware that he would have to tell the taller man at some point.

                Wasting no time in setting the _Thor_ disc into the player when Erd arrived, Jean fell silent as the blond did all the talking. Weeks before Erd had talked about how some people seemed to be only excited for one subject, but recently philosophy had been having the same effect on him. As Jean fast forwarded through the previews the blond ranted on some of the lessons Aristotle had left mankind that were being taught in his class. Apparently it did a good job in capturing his attention because for the past few days Erd could not quiet down about his interpretation on a few of the quotes.

                Not that Jean minded, he found it only added to Erd's attractiveness in fact. When he fell for someone hard, like he did for Erd, he usually ended up falling for every little thing about them, enough to where in some cases he came dangerously close to saying something. It was only luck that he had been able to bite his tongue up until now. But from the looks of how excited Erd could get, Jean had a feeling he wouldn't last long in silence. There was something in how the blond rambled on over the topic, his words stumbling as he tried to move onto his next point prematurely, his voice low and quick like the sound of rustling leaves in the autumn, that set Jean close to saying something complimenting. Not to mention the bright smile the taller man procured whenever he made a new connection and the way his eyes lit up every time Jean allowed him to ramble on. It was rather a lot for Jean to handle and he couldn't stop himself from staring anymore - that was a lost battle.

                To the shorter man's disappointment, the menu flashed on the screen far too soon and Erd fell silent. Jean sighed and hit play as the blond switched off the lights, the opening scene of _Thor_ lighting up the room just barely and the noise drowning out everything else. He copped a seat where he usually did in front of the screen, his back up against the sofa, and looked up as he waited for Erd to join him. Movement hesitant in the darkness, Erd found his place next to Jean and sat down, his hand brushing Jean's briefly as he did so and thus making the shorter boy blush lightly. From what he could see, the blond showed no reaction to this touch that left the back of Jean's hand tingling with warmth.

                The scenes danced on and soon Jean had temporarily forgotten about Erd's mishap, it seeming unimportant in a matter of moments. But then there was the matter of what he was supposed to do during the movie, because he sure wasn't paying any attention to the screen. One tends to become rather uncomfortable when they are aware of how they are presenting themselves to others and so the hours passed with Jean altering between keeping still and fidgeting in his spot. Though he had his golden eyes fixed on the screen, it only took one look from Erd to realise that he wasn't actually focusing on the movie. And as for what Jean was thinking during all this, well, it was mostly blind panic with some coherent thoughts on what the blond must think of him as he shifted uncomfortably in his spot.

                "Hey, you seem a bit off tonight. You not like _Thor_ or something?" Erd asked as he flipped on the lights as the end credits began and casting a concerned glance in Jean's way.

                "Huh? Oh, no, I love the movie; one of my favourites, no less. Just been a long day, I guess," the shorter man shrugged, trying to play it off nonchalantly.

                "Uh-huh," Erd muttered, his voice flat. "Well, you probably need some sleep or something - not going to lie, I could use some myself. I'll see you tomorrow."

                Jean gave a quiet affirmation to the blond's declaration and watched blankly as Erd shut the door behind him, everything passing too quickly for him to process. His mind was lost in his confusion on what to do about telling the blond, and the one idea that shone clearly through the mess of his thoughts was that he needed to do something soon because he was way too close to telling.

                Now, to clarify, this wasn't a good thing in Jean's mind because he wasn't one for spontaneity when it came to this sort of stuff. He wanted this situation where he could take it slow to be perfected, where he could wait longer until he had an idea of whether Erd reciprocated the feeling so that he didn't make a fool of himself. Which is why he refrained from saying anything, even though he also held the belief that it was only right to tell Erd. How can you be so interested in a person's entire being and not tell them? That idea just sounded wrong to him. And so he was left with planning the how’s of asking someone out without coming off as uncomfortable as he did during the movie.

                Running through everything that had just happened, Jean sprang to his feet, embarrassment flooding him as he realised how rude he had been just moments before. Running his hands through his hair he reached for his cell phone, planning to apologise for his absent behaviour during the night when a better, and far out of the ordinary for him, idea presented itself to him. Nodding to himself for a second as he fumbled for a make shift plan, he started towards the door and Erd's car.

                "Hang on, Erd!" Jean called, relieved to find the blond's silhouette in the faint light.

                "Hey, Jean, having a hell of a time finding my keys...and..." Erd muttered, holding up his car keys after a second of searching in his backpack. Stunned over his calmness for a second, the shorter man stared at the blond until snapping himself out of it.

                "Listen, I get it if this sounds out of nowhere and if you don't want to hang out with me after this," Jean spat out, his voice rushed so that there was no opportunity of him to lose his mindless courage. "But I've been thinking about it, well more than thinking, and I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me - like on a date, that type - or something. It’s just, I fancy us being more than friends."

                "Whoa, slow down, Jean," Erd laughed. "So what's this, you want to be more than friends, huh? Well why didn't you say so earlier?"

                "Um...." Jean gazed at the other, bewildered how the other was laughing and acting as though he had been waiting for this moment when he was a mess.

                "C'mon, you made your intentions rather clear without meaning to earlier, and before that. I was wondering if you had it in you to ask me out, though if you waited any longer I probably would've had to ask myself," the blond grinned.

                "Wait, you mean, you've known all along? What the hell, Erd? Why didn't _you_ ask me earlier?" Jean cried, frustrated.

                "Mm, mostly because you seem like the type of guy who would be a good leader if given the chance. I suppose I wasn't wrong, you managed to get this far. Anyway, I'll take you out to _Thor_ 2, day it comes later, and try not to take forever getting ready," Erd smirked, pecking Jean on the temple before sliding behind the driver's seat.

                Aaand Jean realised what just happened, enough to grant him a bright smile and an impatience for the next day.


End file.
